


Cloud's hoard

by ectocosme



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, cloud and cute things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 00:51:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12900447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ectocosme/pseuds/ectocosme
Summary: Cloud hoard cute things, except it could cost him his place into SOLDIER. Zack needs to intervene.





	Cloud's hoard

One day, Sephiroth fell on a young man cooing at a litter of abandoned puppies. The sight wasn’t strange in Midgar. What was, was the blond stuffing puppies in his military uniform and under his helmet – looking around him before his act and still failing to notice Sephiroth -  and finish his shift with the pets, holding himself like nothing happened.

Amused, Sephiroth let it slide, but the following days he eavesdropped on some gossips, curious about the fate of the young infantryman. Pets weren’t allowed in the barracks. Not even SOLDIERs could have one.

Yet, there were no funny stories about how an officer found a litter of puppy under a boy’s bed, nor about catching the boy taking another meal to give his charge.

It surprised Sephiroth, but ultimately he forgot about it. Even if he met Zack covered in dog’s fur a few times. It wasn’t strange for him, the boy loved spending time at pet shops. The number of occurrences was a bit stranger, but Sephiroth didn’t make the link between those two things as they were separated by months.

Cloud Strife, Zack’s new boyfriend, never mentioned the puppies when Sephiroth met him a few times through Zack’s organisation of ‘movie nights’. Why would he? It was forbidden by Shinra, and if Cloud had managed to avoid any punishment, he wouldn’t go rub it in his General’s face. He’d like to look his best, that’s what Genesis and Angeal – then Zack – had told Sephiroth enough time about people, strangers who met him. Though, those strangers trying their best ended being a goof in Sephiroth’s eyes.

Except for Cloud. He was… acceptable. If smelling a bit too much like a full menagerie.

The Puppy Event came back to Sephiroth’s mind when he attended the next SOLDIER exam to observe the new recruits.

Cloud was participating, though he spent the test where he should fight against a third class SOLDIER only sidestepping and avoiding any possible hit. Zack only blinked and hummed like he faced a particularly difficult problem, when his boyfriend who – apparently – talked at length to become a SOLDIER, was doing everything not to be tested.

At least Cloud showed a great stealth and a capacity for dodging anything. But he needed to fight to be marked by Sephiroth and the rest of the jury of SOLDIERs.

“Go shake awake your boyfriend. Tell him he’s betting his life now,” Sephiroth said. “He has only one last chance to fight.”

Zack startled, eyed him, patted his arm, then dashed toward Cloud. Abe, the SOLDIER fighting the potential recruits stepped aside, yawning, while the other troopers glared at the duo. Which was close enough for Sephiroth to hear them.

“Come on, Cloud. What’s going on?”

“Oh, can I go to the toilets? With you?”

Zack snorted, “That’s really not the time for a quickie, hot stuff.”

“No, that’s not-” Cloud ducked his head and stuttered. Before his jacket warked.

“Not again,” Zack said flatly. The blond took a very dark shade of red on the cheeks – crimson Genesis would say – and fidgeted. “Come on, hand it to me, I’ll keep it the time you take for your exam.”

“They’ll take it?” Cloud asked, glancing toward Sephiroth, who cocked his head to the side, curious.

“Hey, hey, isn’t it the trooper who’s always with a cute animal?” Luxiere asked the second jury who hummed thoughtfully.

Zack caught back their attention.

“Nah, there’s too many guys loving your pets. Though if it’s what I believe it is, Shinra won’t be a good place for it, so we’ll have to find it a better home.”

Cloud grumbled, hit the ground with the sole of his feet, then sighed desperately. His shoulders slumped in defeat. He was pouting and making puppy eyes at Zack. The dark-haired’s smile only broadened, making Cloud sigh.  

He shook his arm and pulled a snake out of his sleeve. Zack made a face that disappeared the moment Cloud lifted his eyes to give him the thing. They shared a smile, though Cloud’s was sheepish, then he opened his jacket to reveal a tiny yellow chicabo with feathers standing on its head.

Cloud put the beast in Zack’s hands, frowning in sadness, then opened the other side of his jacket to take out a kitten that started mewling in distress the moment he was far from the blond’s stomach. Sephiroth heard a few snickers around him and someone asks:  “How many does he have on him?”

Cloud leaned down and lifted his leg pant, only to grab a swift rat. Zack’s hands were pretty taken between the chicabo and the kitten – the snake was dangling from one of his arms – but he made a cradle of his arms and took the rodent. With pets all over him, Zack barely restrained his laugh. He lifted an amused brow.

“That’s all?”

Under Sephiroth’s awed eyes, Cloud grumbled again, stomped, then lifted his hand to his hair where he took a canary that chirped in displeasure. He put it in Zack’s hair as the dark-haired struggled not to laugh.

“Good. I got yo pets. Go kick ass, sweetheart.”

Zack leaned down and kissed Cloud’s cheek, but the blond didn’t cheer up. He looked sadly over Zack’s departure from the practice ring where the third was facepalming and eyeing the couple between his fingers with an amused smile.

“I bet 500 gils Cloud knocks him out in less than a minute!” Zack claimed, the chicabo warking like he agreed.

The rest of the jury chuckled at that and bet it was impossible. Sephiroth joined Zack at everyone’s surprise, he saw Cloud’s fierce expression toward the SOLDIER holding his pets. He knew the boy was going to get back his animals the fastest possible.

The chicabo met his eyes, then, and warked, like he agreed. Sephiroth struggled not to pet the cute thing.


End file.
